Paul Choart de Buzanval: A Learned French Ambassador and the Republic of Letters

Abstract

Although he enjoys some renown as a friend of Joseph Scaliger and Isaac Casaubon, Henri iv’s ambassador to the United Provinces, Paul Choart de Buzanval (1551–1607) has rarely been studied in his own right since the 1960s. Yet Choart was a significant champion of the protestant cause, who built a network of contacts spread across Europe, from Venice over Germany to England. This article assesses, first, how Buzanval’s network grew as his career evolved during the final decades of the French Wars of Religion and their immediate aftermath. Secondly, it takes stock of Buzanval’s role as an early modern emissary abroad: it demonstrates how, over and above his diplomatic agency for Henri de Navarre/Henri iv, Buzanval also emerged as a patron and cultural intermediary with the – mostly protestant – Republic of Letters. Thus, from relatively modest beginnings, Buzanval became a notable player in a network that encompassed political as well as intellectual and merchant spheres.